Glycosphingolipids (GSLs) are a class of naturally occurring compounds which have a multitude of biological functions, including the ability to promote cell growth, cell differentiation, adhesion between cells or between cells and matrix proteins, binding of microorganisms and viruses to cells, and metastasis of tumor cells. GSLs are derived from glucosylceramide (GlcCer), which is produced from ceramide and UDP-glucose by the enzyme UDP-glucose: N-acylsphingosine glucosyltransferase (GlcCer synthase). The structure of ceramide is shown below:

The accumulation of GSLs has been linked to a number of diseases, including Tay-Sachs, Gaucher's, and Fabry diseases (see, for example, U.S. Pat. No. 6,051,598). GSLs have also been linked to certain cancers. For example, it has been found that certain GSLs occur only in tumors or at abnormally high concentrations in tumors; exert marked stimulatory or inhibitory actions on tumor growth when added to tumor cells in culture media; and inhibit the body's normal immunodefense system when shed by tumors into the surrounding extracellular fluid. The composition of a tumor's GSLs changes as the tumors become increasingly malignant and antibodies to certain GSLs inhibit the growth of tumors.
Compounds which inhibit GlcCer synthase can lower GSL concentrations and have been reported to be useful for treating subjects with one of the aforementioned diseases. A number of potent inhibitors of GlcCer, referred to herein as “ceramide-like compounds”, are disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,051,598, 5,952,370, 5,945,442, 5,916,911 and 6,030,995. The term “ceramide-like compounds” refers to analogs of ceramide in which: 1) the primary alcohol is replaced with a substituted amino group; and 2) the alkenyl group (C13H27—CH═CH—) is replaced with an aryl group, preferably phenyl or substituted phenyl. An enantiomer of a ceramide-like compound is referred to here as a “ceramide-like enantiomer”. The corresponding N-deacylated compounds are referred to as “sphingosine-like compounds”.
Unfortunately, known methods of preparing ceramide-like compounds are poorly suited for manufacturing on an industrial scale. Because of the two chiral centers, most known syntheses generate four diastereoisomers, resulting in the need to separate diastereomers by chromatography. Unfortunately, chromatography is generally poorly suited for large scale preparations. Thus, there is a critical need for diastereoselective syntheses of ceramide-like compounds which are more economical and involve fewer steps than known syntheses.